Due to Covid-19, the quality of this episode sounds different. For the safety of our host and guests, we are using phone interviews and short voice messages as social distancing methods. Thanks for your continuous love, support, and understanding.
Today, we have a native of Richmond, California. She is the co-founder of the B firm PR. She is an entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and wardrobe stylist. She will be telling us how she landed opportunities with Comcast, Doritos,
[00:00:52] Tebeau, Macy's, VH1, BET, and became Amazon's number one [00:01:00] best seller. She will also give insight to the biggest mistakes people can make with branding. Please welcome Ms. Erica Dias.
[00:01:14] Hello, Ms. Erica Dias. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to have you as the first black woman entrepreneur and author. Well, thank you so much. I'm definitely honored. Yeah. And I know you have the business and you started that with your sister, Ashley Jernigan. Yeah, my sister and I started the B firm PR about, um, April, 2010.
[00:01:46] What made you go into business with your sister? I know some people shy away from going into business with family, but I think that's a great idea. Yeah. So the good thing about my sister and [00:02:00] I is we are the opposite. However, we are alike in many ways. Um, my sister is very, very cross your T's, dot your
[00:02:11] I's. I'm more of the visionary. Um, you know, step out on faith with $500 or less and make things happen. Uh, but my sister is very like, you know, plan it out a through Z. And so with that being my sister's personality and my personality. . Um, it actually built me well in business because even though, um, I brought the idea to my sister, she understood business, and she was definitely supportive of, um, this idea that I had.
[00:02:45] Uh, so she handled the business aspect of it that I wasn't too familiar with. My sister also was already a seasoned publicist, um, and working. And the industry as a publicist, I was actually working [00:03:00] in the industry as a wardrobe stylist for television and film and commercials. And when I decided to step out on faith and create
[00:03:10] this new business venture, which is a family business, my sister was definitely the first one that I made the call too. And like I said, with her, believing in the idea and understanding business, she set the business up and I, you know, stepped out and got the clients. Yes, that is awesome. That is very awesome.
[00:03:31] So can you tell the audience exactly what you do in PR. Okay. So what my sister and I do is we basically create the narrative being told to the public, um, that can be whether it's in a magazine, whether it's on television, whether it's on a blog, um, you know, Speaking engagements. I basically take a client and I help them build their brand behind the [00:04:00] scene.
[00:04:00] Um, you know, making sure that their brand is highlighted for the best of their ability. Um, we create, uh, opportunities for our clients as well, too, whether it comes to, you know, endorsement deals, um, strategic brand partnership. Um, I also make sure that. The narrative being told to the media is the story that we tell, you know, um, it's, it's always true story.
[00:04:31] However, what you guys see our read about when it comes to clients that, um, my firm posts or that my firm represents, that's the story that we've told. That's the pitch that we gave and that's what helped. We too, that a client being maybe featured in Forbes or Huffington post or black enterprise, um, it's, it's the story that we create that makes, you know, the media buy into it.
[00:05:00] [00:05:00] I say you always work with huge companies and huge people. So. Even when you were doing the fashion and things like that. So how do you land great opportunities with those huge people? Cause I know with the fashion you did,...
